, 1887-01-08
AT THE INQUEST.
The Inquiry Into the Causes Of
the Wreck.
Brakeman Snider's eliminating
Evidence
Against Conductor Fletcher and
Engineer Killer.
The Coroner,s INQUEST.

tLEN ELAND, Jan. i.-lne inquest INTO
the causes of the Baltimore & Ohio wreck
at Republic, o., was begun at . o'clock
this afternoon at Tifin. A special to the
Leader says that the city hall, where the
inquest is being held, was crowded.
The first witness examined was l.. f.
Fletcher. conductor Of the freight train.
He SAID: Ed. Killer was engineer Of the
freight and W. j. Cullison fireman. We
ran from Tifhn to Seneca siding. about
three and one half miles cast of here, and
side tracked for the east bound express.
Alter this train passed we had forty five
minutes in which to make Republic siding.
We left this place with l4O pounds of
steam. After getting two miles. | noticed
that the train was Stacking. | ven for
ward over the cars, eighteen in number,
to the engine, to see what was wrong.
| found that the steam had run down to
forty pounds. | opened the door of the
furnace and looked at the fire, then looked
at my watch and saw that we had four
minutes until No. 6, the west bound ex-
press, was due. | took a red and white
lantern and ran ahead to flag her. | got
about 100 yards in the curve and signal
led to stop. As the express approached
| noticed that the engineer had reversed
his engine. In the meantime the freight
had come to a stand and the engineer had
Jumped off, when the collision occurred.
The engineer had been drinking. | saw
him take two drinks of whisky at Bloom
dale and two at Fostoris. When | saw
we had but TOUR minutes to make the sid
ing at Republic, the engineer did not
seem to realize the danger ahead. | tried
to get passengers out of the burnt ng cars.
One man was iammed between the
smoker and ladies' car. | tried to get
him out. but the flames drove me away
and he had to burn. | heard no shrieks
or cries OF the others in the burning cars.
w. J.. Cullison, fireman on the freight,
was next called. He said he was a farm
hand, and had been on the road but three
weeks and never knew anything about the
business before. He said: We had trouble
in keeping up the fire. We had l40
pounds of steam when we left Seneca sta
ton. The train ran four or five miles.
when the steam was down to sixty pounds.
We were then going about three miles per
hour. The conductor came in and looked
at the fire and said it was all right. When
the conductor went ahead to flag the ex-
press coming, he yelled back for us to
jump. After the collision occurred | tried
to get persons out. saw persons in there
burning, but | was so excited | could tell
but little about it.
Chas. Snider, of Columbus, o., was
front brakeman on the freight. He said.
| was in the cab of the engine and noticed
that they had but one gauge of water,
when they should have had at least three.
| was going ahead to flag, but the con-
ductor grabbed the lantern and went. |
knew nothing about either the conductor
or the engineer drinking. At the col
llsion | saw a man hanging about half way
out Of the smoker who called to me ''for
Gods sake to help him out. The man
was supposed to be NJ. H. Parks, of
Washington. | heard no one On the in
side of the smoker.
Thomas F. Heskett, of Wheeling, w.
Va, conductor of the express on the night
of the collision, testified. The express was
three minutes late at Republic. had
about sixty passengers-fourteen or fifteen
in the smoker. OF that number five
escaped from the smoker, two by being
thrown out of the top OF the car, unin-
jured. and three somewhat injured.
think there were not more than ten killed.
have in my possession cards thrown
from the smoker bearing the name of NJ.
II. Parks, Washington, d. C. There
was writing on the card which the brother
of the dead man recognized. OF the
number killed, the names of seven are
unknown. b. j. Hale, of Rowan, Ind.
was rear brakeman on the freight, and
when the collision occurred he took a Ian
tern and went in the rear about a mile to
flag any other train that might be COM
ING.
The inquest will be resumed in the
morning.